The mystery (rising?) damp patch

Beeboo23

Hoping to get some experienced forumites advice. 

We have a problem that’s been ongoing for probably over a year. 

It started with bubbling paint in the middle of the wall. There was on old boiler flue at the back of the wall so we had this filled in as thought it was initially penetrating damp. 

I then reskimmed and redecorated the wall about 6m ago and it seemed to fix the issue until the last couple of months. 

In the last month or so I've noticed the issue coming back. I think it does correlate with the bad weather we've had so not sure if water is getting in from somewhere. There is also salt formation on the wall. We also bought a dehumidifier which we use but we were away for a couple of weeks in November and left it switched off so not sure if this has contributed to the issue. 

I had a plumber out today to see if there's possibly a leak from a pipe in the wall but he said it looks like rising damp. The room above this area is a bedroom. The wall is dry to touch. And no signs of peeling paint towards the skirting board. 

I spoke to a damp company who said they can come out in the new year. They charge £120 for the survey but that comes off the cost of any remedial works. I also had someone have a look before we had the wall patched outside who put a little prong thing in the wall, said we needed to rip the kitchen out. They would place a new damp proof membrane and we could get a new kitchen but he spent less than 30 seconds looking at it. 

I have attached photos of the internal and external walls, the conservatory roof and gutter. 

Many thanks. 

Beeboo23

Posted in comments 

stuart45

Looks like it's probably a solid 9inch wall, so penetrating damp is always a possibility in any weak spots in the wall.
The first thing to do is get that mess taken out and rebuilt properly in brickwork.
The inside wall should have been filled in properly with brickwork as well.

twopenny

This looks identical to something that happened to me.

Spotted it as soon as I saw the roof of the ?conservatory/kitchen and the patches on the inside wall.

The roof has plants and soil along the ribs and one growing at the junction with the wall holding or allowing water to get in and channel into the bricks.

The moisture gets in and begins to affect the plaster and paint on the wall. In this case probably drawn in by the warmth

Clean out that roof, if necessary seal the metal rims, check the flashing hasn't lifted in that corner with the roots.

Once waterproof you wait for it to dry throughly then rub, sand and flush finish..........but you need to know that it is throughly dry, could even be spring if the water has got in.

You;ve patched it but not dealt with the cause outside.

The internal wall will produce lifting paint, maybe some plaster until the wall has dried.

That area outside is holding onto damp as air isn't circulating, some mortar needs doing but the roof is letting water in.

So you're right initially, penetrating damp - recurring because it's been exceptionally wet this winter so no chance to dry and the cause still there.

"little prong thing" was just recording the fact the was is still damp. A dehumidifier won't do much.

Lol to ripping out the kitchen. Does his brother/uncle do kitchen refurbs

In my case it was a leak from the overflow keeping the gutter wet and water against the brickwork made ingress.

I got the same plaster effect on the inside wall eventually. Took an £8 washer to fix then dealing with the outside and I had to wait for a hot spell in summer for it all to dry out.

Think I had tried repair 2-3 times being over optimistic before I'd got a grip on the damp I allowed to happen

Ganga

Also be very carefull about employing some of those " Damp specialist companies " there are loads of posts on this forum about people repairing damp walls ,most of the cures are a waste of time but expensive.

FreeBear

Ganga said:

Also be very carefull about employing some of those " Damp specialist companies " there are loads of posts on this forum about people repairing damp walls ,most of the cures are a waste of time but expensive.

This damp patch is a little odd in that it is roughly 1m above the floor. No immediate sign of a source outside, so i wonder if that wall has had damp "treatments" in the past.

A photo of the outside wall closer to ground level might show if the wall has had chemicals injected in to the wall. Checking to see what has been done inside would involve drilling a few holes and seeing what comes out - Something I dare say the OP might be reluctant to do.

Lorian

What's growing in the end of the conservatory guttering that butts up to the wall. Needs cleaning out. I'd be replacing the rubber seal on the end cap there assuming it has one too.

Beeboo23

Lorian said:

What's growing in the end of the conservatory guttering that butts up to the wall. Needs cleaning out. I'd be replacing the rubber seal on the end cap there assuming it has one too.

Sorry for slow replies. Xmas and new year and then waiting for the first weekend so I can be at home in the daylight to take some pics. I’m no expert but I think you’re right about the end cap. I removed that plant too. We’re getting our gutters professionally cleaned next month and the roof cleaned. I thought yearly was enough but maybe we need twice yearly.
I think sorting the gutter is the first thing I’ll try as a leaky gutter wreaked havoc with the living room wall but once it was sorted and redecorated touch wood it’s been fine. Even with all the heavy rain. 

I’ve checked the flashing there too. Again not an expert but seems to be pretty flush to the wall with no gaps and I think the previous owners changed the roof on the conservatory so don’t think it’s that old. 

Beeboo23

FreeBear said:

Ganga said:

Also be very carefull about employing some of those " Damp specialist companies " there are loads of posts on this forum about people repairing damp walls ,most of the cures are a waste of time but expensive.

This damp patch is a little odd in that it is roughly 1m above the floor. No immediate sign of a source outside, so i wonder if that wall has had damp "treatments" in the past.

A photo of the outside wall closer to ground level might show if the wall has had chemicals injected in to the wall. Checking to see what has been done inside would involve drilling a few holes and seeing what comes out - Something I dare say the OP might be reluctant to do.

It’s a bit of a mess down there as pretty inaccessible but managed to get some pics and can’t see any evidence of holes. 

Vortigern

That white twin satellite cable could be carrying water in to the wall. It should go down below the entry point then U-bend to enter from below. Water then drops off the bottom of the U, outside the wall.

BNEILL88

Clearly seems to be rising damp as you describe it. I'm currently in a similar situation, is the surveyor from a PCA agreed company? I've heard a lot about them (badly), would be great to know it. 

Thank you for your answer!